First Blood
by Query
Summary: The Elders have chosen Dee's first kill. Will she be able to handle it? Part 10 of the Jade Tiger Triad series Rated for violence
1. The Job

  
  
These stories are set in Gotham City. The character Dee Lemma/Xiaohu/Query, as well as the entire Jade Tiger Triad is the sole creation of me. Unauthorized use of my characters is not allowed. All other characters (Batman, The Riddler, and all other DC created Gothamites) are property of DC Comics.  
  
The Jade Tiger Triad series is Dee Lemma's origin series.  
  


~ ~ ~

  
  
The Jade Tiger Triad was unique from other triads because it never ran drugs. Ever. It was something that the founders had sworn on when the Triad started. There were enough other triads carrying narcotics at any rate. That didn't mean that members of the Jade Tigers were not immune to being drug addicts themselves; the numbers were fractional compared to many other gangs. The main interests of the Jade Tiger Triad were that of import/export, robberies, gambling, and the recovery of Chinese artifacts scattered all over the world. A darker side of the Triad consisted of torture and murders.  
  
Manchu had recently become involved in the physical aspect of the torture and murder. He had been trained, as they all had, to kill. It never was a question of "if," but a question of "when." Since he had been accepted, he had heard rumors of a man who patrolled the city dressed as a bat. He hadn't believed it until he saw the man for himself one night. Shortly there after, this "Batman" captured two members of the Triad.  
  
Since that night, the topic had become a hot point with the Triad Elders. Every member of the Triad was briefed on what little was known about him and how best to avoid him. When the time came that an important murder needed to be committed, the Elders held a council to decided what to do.  
  
{Our Watchers have noticed his presence around the building. This Batman must know something is about to happen. The man is becoming an increasing problem,} Po Sin said.  
  
{If he knows then we must either delay until he is put off, or we must strike now and strike fast,} said Shing.  
  
This was met with a grumble of frustration from Po Sin. He fanned himself with his hand as the close air in the meeting room was making him sweat. The day had been hell from the moment he woke up. First his personal maid had handed him the wrong clothing, and then she insisted on reminding him that his breakfast was to be with the other Elders. All he had wanted to do was sit in his garden, having a leisurely breakfast as he enjoyed the cool morning air. Instead he was stuck in this hot little room with Shing and Fai.  
  
{There is another solution,} Fai said, raising a finger.  
  
{Well? Out with it already, Fai. Don't make us wait,} grumbled the old man.  
  
{Xiaohu.}  
  
Po Sin nearly spit his tea out at the mention of the girl. Though she did good work, he never quite liked her. Her close friendship with one of Gotham's most promising Jade Tiger vexed him all the more.  
  
{That nuisance? What good would she be?}  
  
{Her ring, Po Sin. She would be the ideal candidate for this job. Already she has proven to be quite successful with using the ring in the jobs we have set her to. Her ability to shape shift has been extremely useful when there was difficulty in passing security.}  
  
{True. Just last week the team she was on managed to collect the items we were after with little problem. Besides, it is time to send her out on her first assassination, is it not?} inquired Shing.  
  
Frowning into his teacup, Po Sin asked, {And should she get caught?}  
  
{We will have her instructed to use a feline form for the killing. Once she has finished, she will leave the building in the guise of a housecat. If anyone sees her, they will think nothing of it,} Fai said.  
  
With a grunt, Po Sin set his cup down and looked at the two younger men. {You have this all thought out, don't you? Even if I were to say no, you would see that she is sent on the job. Very well. Let her go. We'll see if she even has the nerve to kill.}  
  
Fai and Shing left the meeting happy. They knew there would be a discussion about this new menace to the Gotham underworld. Still, Triad business needed doing and if they could push to have it done their way, they would. Neither one felt any qualms about getting the old man to see things their way. Po Sin was wrapped in traditions that no one observed anymore. Kueng had not been as set in his ways as Po Sin. However, the old man was wise in many of his decisions and fair. The only exception was when Xiaohu was the subject.  
  



	2. Prey

  
  
"Think you can do it?"  
  
"Sure. You did it, didn't you? Anything you can do, I can do better!" Dee said.  
  
"This is different though. You're taking a life. I'm serious, Xiaohu," Manchu said looking sober.  
  
"I think I can. I'm pretty certain, yes."  
  
"If you don't think you can do it, you better tell them now so they can find someone else."  
  
She glared at him. "It's a little late for that. I will do this. If I don't, Po Sin will think less of me than he does now. If he thinks anything of me at all."  
  
"Why do you care what that old man says? He might be an Elder, but he doesn't have respect for you. You work just as hard as anyone else in this triad and he still treats you like an outsider."  
  
"I dunno. Sometimes I just wish he'd se me as a real member. Did you hear him at the last gathering?" She rolled her eyes as she tugged her tabby boots on. "He was praising that idiot, Feng. How either one of them managed to make it into the triad is beyond me."  
  
Manchu gave a shrug. "Everyone says she's changed."  
  
"Yeah, and I'm the Empress of China. When she can prove it, I'll believe it," she said, tucking her long braid of bright red hair into her hood and securing it with a pin. "Why was she in Gotham anyway? Isn't there enough for that brat to do in Metropolis?"  
  
"She was sent here because they're thinking of transferring her to Gotham. They want to move some of the members around I guess. You should've talked to her. Her Chinese has really improved!"  
  
"No thanks. As long as I can maintain a distance from her, I will. I saw the looks she was giving me when she thought I wasn't looking." Sighing, she checked her backpack for the equipment she carried on all jobs. "Ok, I've got to get out of here before someone thinks I'm ditching on this job. I'll let you know how it went the second I get back."  
  
"Don't forget to drink some of the blood!" he said before she rushed out the door.  
  
Waving an affirmative sign to him, she hurried to meet with the assassin who would be showing her the ropes.  
  


~ ~ ~

  
  
Assassin Shun briefed Dee on how the job would go. He would take her to where the man they were after lived, point her to an entry, and observe as she completed the task. The orders were for her to go in, shift into a large feline, kill the man, and leave. At no point when she was in the building was she to turn into a human unless absolutely necessary.  
  
Dee had time enough to deal with the idea that she was about to commit her first murder as the two hurried through the rooftop shadows. When they came to the old building at the edge of Gotham's Upper West Side, Shun pointed to an entry point for Dee. It was a balcony door, which had been left partially open on this warm night. Nodding her understanding, she silently slipped down to the balcony floor, landing in the shape of a small Siamese cat.  
  
Without a sound she glided through the open door and followed the directions she had been given. She found the study where the man was supposed to be easily enough, only he wasn't there. A noise in the hall caught her attention and she peeked her head around the study door. Her target stood in the dimly lit hall with a glass of iced tea in his hand, dressed in a smoking jacket and silk pajamas.  
  
She trotted out and toward the man, wasting no time. The man noticed the movement and opened his mouth to speak. Whatever it was he was going to say turned to a scream of terror as Dee shifted smoothly into a leopard and lunged at the man's throat. There was a splashing crash as the glass hit the floor, skittering ice cubes all over.  
  
For a moment she had to force herself to keep her crushing grip on the man's windpipe. Then the blood came. As the coppery, salty tang spread across her tongue, the warm scent hit her nostrils. The man gurgled and squirmed as his neck hung from her jaws. The smell and the motion tickled a hidden memory at the back of her brain. One she had not known was there, one that had not existed until she put the ring on. With a shake of her head, she heard the snap of his neck and felt the tear of his flesh as he fell from her mouth. Blood spurted everywhere from the gaping hole where there once had been a whole neck.  
  
As she bent her head to better sniff the blood, a crash from out where she had entered sent a shock to her system. She then remembered who she was and what she was supposed to do. Quickly, her body shrank back to the Siamese cat she had been when she entered. Preparing to head back to Shun, she stopped and remembered Manchu's words. She had to drink some of the blood. There was plenty of it to choose from, splashed as it was all over the hallway tiles. Bending her head to the nearest pool, she lapped up what she hoped was enough. It tasted good.  
  
The black caped figure that rushed into view spooked her. Puffing up, she hissed at the masked man that could only be Batman. Grim faced, he looked from the body to her and back. The man looked around at the blood, and his expression became angrier. Realizing that he didn't know she had just killed this man, Dee flicked her tail high and ran out between his legs, leaving a trail of little bloody paw prints.  
  
{It is done,} she said when she made it to where Shun waited for her.  
  
{Did he see you?}  
  
He was asking about Batman, not the man she went in for. She nodded. {I remained as a cat, just as I was instructed to do. He didn't even bother with me.}  
  
{Excellent. We shall tell the Elders of the success tonight.}  
  
Knowing that the man had been watching the whole time, Dee simply nodded and said nothing more. There was no way she was going to tell him or anyone else, if she could help it, what had happened when she had first tasted blood.  
  



	3. Gimmicks

  
  
The efficiency at which she was able to get in and get out marked her as a top choice for assassinations. She handled the kills well enough, taking them simply as jobs, nothing more. Those she killed never haunted her dreams. In fact, the method in which she dispatched her targets seemed to pad her from what she was doing. There was no doubt that she knew she was killing. It all seemed to be part of the feline nature she was inheriting.  
  
Since she rarely ever took the ring off, Dee began to notice other things pertaining to her feline half. Now and again she would awake from a feline dream of chasing mice to find herself in cat form. Being trusted to carry out her job without problems, she was now allowed to go on assassin missions alone when chosen. The blood on her claws after a kill tempted her and she would often sate the feline in her with a few licks.  
  
On days after she had done what she needed to, she would play with her puzzles for a little while before running off to some place in the house where she could catch a catnap in a patch of sun. Manchu found this a great source of amusement when he would stumble across her. He knew better than to rub her belly, as one would do to a normal cat. The one time he tried that, she had nearly ripped the skin off his hand with her teeth and claws. It didn't stop him from teasing her and asking if she was cooked through yet. Often he would advise her to flip over so that her roasting would be even.  
  
The more she used the ring, the greater control she had over it. Instead of just being able to shift into a few felines, she found a greater and greater range of ability. Her greatest feat was learning that she had control over the pattern on her fur. Many times she made this a game, seeing how many different shapes she could make her coat. According to Manchu and Li Mei who were her prime audiences, the sight gave them a slight case of vertigo. She tucked this knowledge away, figuring it might come in use someday.  
  


~ ~ ~

  
  
While Dee was concerned with improving her skills with her ring, the Elders were concerned with the increasing reports of the Batman. With his appearance, there came a new breed of criminal. "Disorganized crime" was the phrase the news stations were using for these themed villains. As the months passed, more and more began to emerge.  
  
Po Sin, of course, saw them as a threat to organized crime. Fai and Shing saw them as nothing more than distractions for Batman to go after instead of them. The two patiently spent and afternoon explaining the benefits of having these costumed criminals loose in the city. After a meal and much more discussion, Po Sin had to agree that there could be benefits to this new trend in crime.  
  
Soon enough, the Triad began keeping track of which villains were which, and what their chief interest was. Lists were sent to each member, listing any information known on the subjects, along with a photo if available. Orders were to steer clear of the criminals at all possible times.  
  
{Who would be scared of a clown?} Li Mei demanded when she read the list Dee had received.  
  
{He murdered a hundred people the other night because they wouldn't laugh at his jokes,} replied Dee as she stuffed another bun for the steamer.  
  
{Idiot. And this one, Penguin. Why penguins? Why not a pretty bird, like a hummingbird?}  
  
{It doesn't strike fear into the hearts of innocence,} Manchu chuckled as he came through the kitchen. {Personally, they amuse me.}  
  
Li Mei swiped the back of Manchu's head as he took a fresh, hot bun from the steamer. {Those are for lunch!}  
  
{There's one that isn't on the list,} Dee said, switching out the steamer trays.  
  
{Another one? When did this one show up?} ask Manchu as he took a bite of the bun.  
  
{Just last week, apparently. Robbed a movie theater at gunpoint. The cops ignored him the first time. They went after him the second time and Batman almost caught him.}  
  
{What's his theme?} Li Mei asked.  
  
Dee hid her smile behind her hair as she replied. {Riddles and puzzles.}  
  
Manchu burst into laughter. {Right up your alley, Xiaohu!}  
  
She slapped his chest and glared up at him.  
  
{Oh, Xiaohu, take it easy. The glutton is just teasing you,} Li Mei said, taking back the second bun he had pulled from the steamer. {What is this one calling himself?}  
  
{The Riddler,} she mumbled.  
  


~ ~ ~

  
  
More news of the question marked criminal came in over the next few weeks. Dee read all the articles on him and watched the news reports when she could. Even Manchu was impressed when the criminal masterminded and pulled off a spectacular underwater robbery at the Reservoir Street Cash Depository. From then on, he gave her any news of the Riddler's crimes should she miss it. In Dee's mind, it was a fresh take at how to pull a crime and the whole idea of riddles and making it a challenge fascinated her.  
  
News of a different sort was told to Dee one night after her shift on guard duty. Hearing the news, she slipped into the pantry and nabbed a bottle of plum wine before heading up to Manchu's room. Waking her friend up, she shoved a cup of the wine into his hand.  
  
"What's up?"  
  
"I need this and you know I hate drinking alone."  
  
"It's 4 AM, Xiaohu. Tell me what's going on or I'm going to drag you back to your room by that tail you have thrashing behind you," he said, pointing out that she had unconsciously half shifted.  
  
Bolting the cup of wine in her hand, she poured another, sipping it this time. "Feng's back."  
  



End file.
